Because of the universal need for display/storage shelving, a multitude of suspended shelving designs have been purposed. However, prior suspended shelving systems have many deficiencies. For example, many of the previous designs are complicated, requiring an increase in components and thus, enlarging the costs of manufacture. Examples of such designs may be found by reference to U.S. Pat. No. D270,977 to Kneale, III, U.S. Pat. No. 2,206,753 to Roth, U.S. Pat. No. 2,556,105 to Rhett, U.S. Pat. No. 3,025,970 to Ostrom, U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,547 to Ables, U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,829 to Palmer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,072 to Slaboden, U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,165 to Schlesinger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,092 to Jacobsen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,080 to Vall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,787 to Nakatsu, U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,301 to Nakatsu, U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,526 to O'Neill, U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,523 to Giarratana, U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,648 to Landau, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,344 to Beauchemin.
Additionally, many of the previous designs require additional wall securing means at the rear of each shelf to secure said shelving in position and thus, do not function as suspended shelving. Examples of such designs may be found by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 3,025,970 to Ostrom, U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,547 to Ables, U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,829 to Palmer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,072 to Slaboden, U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,080 to Vall and U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,523 to Giarratana.
Another deficiency of previous suspended shelf designs is that they do not allow for, or are capable of, supporting a multitude of shelves. Examples of such designs may be found by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,547 to Ables, U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,165 to Schlesinger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,523 to Giarratana and U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,648 to Landau.
Moreover, many of the designs that do support a plurality of shelves do not provide means for easily adding, removing and/or horizontally repositioning the shelves. Examples of such designs may be found by reference to U.S. Pat. No. 2,206,753 to Roth, U.S. Pat. No. 2,556,105 to Rhett, U.S. Pat. No. 3,025,970 to Ostrom, U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,547 to Ables, U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,829 to Palmer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,072 to Slaboden, U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,165 to Schlesinger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,092 to Jacobsen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,080 to Vall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,787 to Nakatsu, U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,301 to Nakatsu, U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,523 to Giarratana, U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,648 to Landau, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,344 to Beauchemin. Although some of the above referenced patents do allow horizontal movement of individual shelves and the addition or removal of individual shelves, these designs require either the addition of supplemental parts, the untying and/or tying of strings, the disassembly and assembly of the entire structure, the unsecuring and resecuring of a shelf from a rear wall mount, and/or the repositioning of the shelf support means.
As shelving serves to facilitate the display/storage of various items, an essential feature and purpose of shelving is to maximize the available shelving space. In other words, shelving designs should be spatially efficient. However, the support members of previous designs are either channeled through a portion of the shelving or attached to the front of the shelving thereby interfering and reducing the available shelf space. As such, previous designs are deficient in maximizing display/storage space. Examples of such designs may be found by reference to U.S. Pat. No. D270,977 to Kneale, III, U.S. Pat. No. 2,206,753 to Roth, U.S. Pat. No. 2,556,105 to Rhett, U.S. Pat. No. 3,025,970 to Ostrom, U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,547 to Ables, U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,829 to Palmer, U.S. Pat. No. 3,799,072 to Slaboden, U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,165 to Schlesinger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,061,092 to Jacobsen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,080 to Vall, U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,787 to Nakatsu, U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,301 to Nakatsu, U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,526 to O'Neill, U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,523 to Giarratana, U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,648 to Landau, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,344 to Beauchemin.
It is readily apparent that a new, improved and inexpensive suspended shelving design is needed wherein the shelves can easily be horizontally repositioned, added and/or removed. It is, therefore, to the provision of such an improvement that the present invention is directed.